After thanking Timber Giger and Wayne Martinez, who reported the lost Chihuahua, Los Alamos County Animal Shelter Supervisor Debra Kramer put the rescued dog into her truck. The animal was taken to a local veterinarian for evaluation.

The owner, Jacqueline Chrobocinski, said she reported her dog “Peanut” missing Sept. 4, after he escaped from his enclosure in the family’s backyard during a thunderstorm.

Chrobocinski said the dog usually does well in the yard during the day, but that the storm proved to be more than the Chihuahua could handle and he ran away.

With the help of friends, family and Cyndi Wells, the owner of Pet Pangaea, the Chrobocinskis scoured the surrounding neighborhoods for days, but to no avail.

“We had pretty much given up because it’s been almost a week,” Chrobocinski said.

“We were concerned another animal may have gotten him or the elements… I was totally taken by surprise today.”
Chrobocinksi was grateful to those that found him.

“I just wanted to thank them very much, and I’m going to be taking them a little ‘thank you’ as well,” Chrobocinski said.

Peanut was plucked from a cliff in the Quemazon neighborhood by firefighters around 10:30 a.m. Monday, thanks to some hikers who heard him crying Sunday.

Timber Giger was walking along the road to the reservoir Sunday morning when she heard something out of the ordinary.

“I heard something crying, something that seemed to be in distress,” Giger said. “I took my binoculars out and I started looking up at the cliffs from that canyon.”

But the noise stopped.

Giger went home but she couldn’t stop thinking about the crying she heard.

Giger returned to the spot on the road during the day with her husband, Wayne Martinez, and she thought she heard something, but wasn’t sure.

The third time she returned that evening with her brother, Mark Giger. They waited, and after about 10 minutes the dog started crying again, only this time much louder, she said.

“It was so much more heartbreaking than in the morning, it just went on and on,” Timber Giger said.

At first, they thought it might be a coyote pup, but they weren’t sure. Mark Giger started to climb up the cliff face to investigate, and when he did, he saw the Chihuahua poke its head over the ledge.

“He was very lucky that he saw it,” Timber Giger said. “It just happened to poke its head out.”

The two went approached the cliff from the top, and realized the dog was trapped on a narrow ledge, Timber Giger said.

What was worse, was that because it was getting dark, he couldn’t quite get to it.

The small and frightened dog saw Mark Giger and began to bark furiously.

They returned in the morning with food and water. Martinez was able to get the food and water to the dog and Mark Giger was able to reach the dog and pet it, feed it and keep it calm while they waited for firefighters to arrive.

They thought about rescuing it themselves, but it was too precarious, Timber Giger said.

She was happy it ended well.

“I’m not really one for interviews, but I’m really glad it had a happy ending,” Giger said. “That to me is the most important thing.”